$500,000 Released for Molokaʻi Community Health Center

US Senator Brian Schatz at the Molokaʻi Community Health Center. Courtesy file photo, August 2013.

By Wendy Osher

Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced the release of a half-million-dollars in capital improvement grant funds for the Molokaʻi Community Health Center.

The $500,000 funding release will go towards Phase II of a CIP project.

According to the governor’s announcement, that includes: renovation of structures, the addition of a central deck, repaving of the parking lot, installation of walkways that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and irrigation and landscaping at the facility’s Oceanside Center in Kaunakakai.

“The Molokai Community Health Center serves approximately 3,000 of the island’s 7,200 total residents, which is more than 40% of its population,” said Governor Abercrombie in a press release statement.  “This project will expand and improve access to quality health care on the Friendly Isle,” he said.

The Molokaʻi Community Health Center is a non-profit organization, and the only federally qualified health center on the island of Molokaʻi, according to the facility’s website.

According to information released by the governor’s office, “the center’s primary clientele are the indigent, uninsured and underinsured residents of Molokaʻi, of which two-thirds are native Hawaiian.”

The organization’s website notes that the target population consists of individuals on the island who live below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.  In 2002 and 2003, that accounted for 56.4% of the island population, or 4,093 residents, according to the Hawaii Health Surveys data detailed on the organization’s website.

In 2011, the Molokaʻi Health Center reported serving a total of 3,850 patients.